HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Jeff Gordon apologized Friday for losing control of his emotions last week at Phoenix International Raceway, but said that Clint Bowyer had it coming when Gordon retaliated against him.

After the two drivers made contact on the track, Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer, destroying his racecar and leading to a brawl in the garage between their two pit crews.

“The thing that I messed up on is I allowed my anger and allowed my emotions to put me in a position to make a bad choice,” Gordon said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Clint needed to be dealt with, but that wasn’t the right way to go about it and certainly not the right time.

“What I hate the most is other guys were involved. … I look back on it and wish I had done things different.”

With just a few laps left in the race, Bowyer got into the side of Gordon, who attempted to immediately retaliate but failed. After hitting the wall and being black-flagged, Gordon waited on the track and wrecked Bowyer while also hitting Joey Logano and Aric Almirola and nearly collecting series points leader Brad Keselowski.

Bowyer’s crew accosted Gordon and a melee ensued among the crew members. Bowyer ran through the garage and tried to join the fray before being stopped by NASCAR officials at Gordon’s hauler.

Gordon said he should have made Bowyer’s life miserable in future events.

“Enough was enough,” Gordon said. “I usually like to make a mental note of them and hold on to those things and be patient with it and try to outrace guys and move them out of the way and wear them down that way and remind them of those things over a long period of time rather than taking them out right at the moment.”

“If you’re contending for the championship, you’ve got to be as smart with the things you do on the racetrack as the guys that might be outside the championship,” Gordon said. “There was absolutely no reason to run into me. … We were racing for fourth in points and so there was a lot on the line for us as well as for them.”

Not winning at Martinsville in April particularly stung the Hendrick organization. Team owner Rick Hendrick’s brother, son and two nieces were among 10 killed in a team plane crash on the way to Martinsville in October 2004. Hendrick had his brother’s widow and the widow of a DuPont executive killed in the crash with him at Martinsville in April. The win would have been the 200th for the organization, which it got later in the year at Darlington.

That loss wasn’t just another a race and was devastating for the Hendrick organization, which might have added to Gordon’s frustration, Hendrick said.

“The 200th win (possibly coming) at Martinsville meant so much to all of us because we lost so much there,” Hendrick said. “That was taken away from us. Both of our cars were wrecked and it was by the 15 (of Bowyer).

“You didn’t see our guys go down there and fight in the pits. I have never hurt as bad in my life leaving the racetrack as I did that day (at Martinsville).”

Five days after the Phoenix crash, Bowyer’s Michael Waltrip Racing team was still miffed. Bowyer had little to say about the incident Friday.

“I don’t want to talk about it, I really don’t,” Bowyer said following his qualifying lap. “It will be a while (to get over it). I’m usually not a guy that usually causes any trouble.”

Bowyer and Gordon have not spoken since they met in the NASCAR hauler last Sunday. Gordon has talked to Logano, a discussion he admitted didn’t go well. Logano declined to talk about what he talked about with Gordon.

“I reached out for an apology and didn’t get one,” Logano said. “I got hung up on. I was a little frustrated about that but he did text me (later) and I’m sure we’ll meet up.”

Gordon insisted that he didn’t intend to put Bowyer, whom he considers a friend, into the wall.

“I think everybody thinks I just intentionally went down there and wrecked him,” Gordon said. “That was not the case. I wanted to make his life really miserable. I wanted to make my car really, really wide. But I wasn’t expecting him to go diving down the inside on the apron.

“He did and it caused us to hook and caused what ended up being a terrible accident.”

The retaliation should keep people from messing with him, Gordon said, although he can’t be sure that it won’t continue.

“I can't control what's going to happen out there or what other guys are going to do against me this weekend,” Gordon said. “I'm going to focus on what I can do. I'm pretty sure if they're having a good day, they're not going to mess with me.

“If they're having a really bad day and feel like they have nothing to lose, then maybe they will. We'll see.”

There were some who thought Gordon wouldn’t be racing Sunday, that NASCAR would have suspended him. Gordon has the longest streak of consecutive starts at 688 and for the last three months, there had been plans for him to run a special paint scheme to commemorate his first start 20 years ago with sponsor DuPont.

“I tried not to think about that (possibility). … Until I heard that they (at DuPont) were worried about it, I wasn’t too concerned about it,” Gordon said. “I knew there would be fines and penalties, but I felt like I would be in the seat.”

The 41-year-old Gordon believes he made a statement while possibly tarnishing his reputation.